Another failed 19.3 -> 20 upgrade attempt

[koedem]

Hello,
I run Linux Mint on a 64 bit laptop. I originally ran LM 18 and could upgrade to 19 through the in-place upgrade process without any problems some time ago.
Now I wanted to upgrade further from 19.3 to 20. I seem to face the same problems as the user here viewtopic.php?f=18&t=324421 , i.e. large list of foreign packages to be deleted as well as some essential ones.
A clarifying question: is this caused by packages formerly in LM 18 that are not part of LM 19 anymore and thus appear foreign? But some of which may still be considered essential?

I too tried to remove the packages that were possible remove until I read that post. Is it a good idea / safe to try and return the system to the previous state with the timeshift image? (or maybe skip that step and go straight to below?)

When that works I would probably try a clean install like suggested elsewhere, having backed up my /home and then after the install replace the new /home with the backup? What would that do to the installed software? Keep application data around but one has to reinstall the software?

[kato181]

It is advised that upgrading from LM19.3 to LM20 can have problems. The experts here advise backing up your files/data and do a fresh install of LM20.
https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedoc ... nt-20.html

[RIH]

I never tried the upgrade route - in part, because I am not a Timeshift user.

I used the Backup Tool that comes with Mint to both backup my Home directory (including hidden files, that are not backed up by default).
I also used the backup tool to create a list of all the Applications that I had in Mint 19.3.

Did a new install & then used the backup tool to restore home settings & Applications.

Some Applications will fail to install - but you will be left with a clear list of those.
That includes Applications that are actually in the Mint 20 repositories but that you installed from elsewhere - a useful method, I think.
Of that list of Applications (half a dozen, from memory) 2 could not be used on Mint 20 & I had to find new alternatives for them - the other 4ish I installed from the owners' web site, as originally.

The other thing that I did was to take a screen shot of my Mint 19.3 Themes & fonts & Desktop Applets, as those had to be manually installed too.

All in all it was a very quick, simple & painless process - but one that I had practised on a VirtualBox guest first..

[koedem]

Re kato181 , well that link describes how not to do a fresh install and instead explains the upgrade process. In fact I followed that until running into difficulties. But yes, I did read elsewhere here that a fresh install is recommended.

I did now restore my system to the previous state with Timeshift, at least that worked without problems so I have my old system again for now.

I used the Backup Tool that comes with Mint to both backup my Home directory (including hidden files, that are not backed up by default).
I also used the backup tool to create a list of all the Applications that I had in Mint 19.3.

Did a new install & then used the backup tool to restore home settings & Applications.

So I can try to get the applications across? That sounds useful, thanks.

All in all it was a very quick, simple & painless process - but one that I had practised on a VirtualBox guest first..

That sounds like a good suggestion too, I will do that.

[RIH]

So I can try to get the applications across? That sounds useful, thanks

Yes, just type backup into the Menu.

Select Back Up Now

The Computer will generate a complete list, which you can manually alter (I didn't, just accepted as was)

It will generate a text file that you should save off disk to install later..

After installing your new Mint then just call up Back Up Tool again but use the restore..

[koedem]

I did try this now, I could back up my data and applications without problems, installing a fresh OS version worked without problems and I could restore most of the applications.

However, when it came to restoring the data I got an error: "Could only restore 220,000 out of 270,000 files." or something like that. And indeed, while many of my files are there, some things are missing, for instance my Firefox data does not seem to have been restored. (or at least not in a place where it could get accessed)
Unfortunately I did not get a more detailed error report. Is there a way to find out which files are missing and more importantly, restoring them in some other manual way?

Theories why it might not have worked before: 1) Unlikely, but could having switched from Cinnamon to Mate have had to do with it?
2) Maybe on this new Ubuntu base e.g. Firefox data is at a different place in the file system?

EDIT: After manually unpacking it appears the hidden .mozilla folder is not present in the backup despite me giving the root folder as source for hidden files and directories. Probably doesn't work like that, I guess that data is gone now...